Steve Wilson

Genius who studied in Havant is off to Oxford University with five A and A*s under his belt

Lee Williamson has told Pompey: I want to stay and fight to keep this club in League One.

The Blues started 2013 in depressing style yesterday as they were crushed 5-0 at promotion-chasing Swindon – after an encouraging performance from Guy Whittingham’s men for an hour of the contest.

But despite the capitulation and the club now looking increasingly likely to drop into League Two, if and when a 10-point deduction is implemented, ex-Sheffield United midfielder Williamson insists he has no desire to leave.

And he also remains positive that Pompey can still turn things around this season.

Williamson said: ‘It keeps you going to think that this club can turn around at any time.

‘Football can be like that. We were the better team for an hour and then, all of a sudden, we were 5-0 down.

‘That can be the case off the pitch sometimes as well.

‘Things can change quickly and drastically in football.

‘When I signed in the summer, I wanted to be here for the long haul.

‘There is always going to be speculation and rumours about people coming in or going. But I’m not looking to go and I do want to stay.

‘I’m going to stand by this club. It’s a good club, it’s got great support and wants to one day get back to the Premier League.

‘Some people might think some of us players have made the wrong decision coming here.

‘But football is about choices and opinions.

‘A lot of people know how good the club is and how big this club is.’

Williamson has recently started to show some promising form, especially in his favoured central-midfield role.

He certainly impressed during a goalless first hour in a decent Pompey performance and even clipped the crossbar with a free-kick, before Swindon then took the lead and ruthlessly powered to victory.

The Blues’ defensive woes reared their ugly head again as substitute James Collins tore through them to blast four goals.

And Williamson knows the errors must stop if Pompey are to have any chance at all of climbing out of trouble.

He said: ‘We’ve had a bit of a bad run but we’ve only got ourselves to blame and nobody else can put it right.

‘It wasn’t a 5-0 game but time after time we keep conceding silly goals.

‘We get ourselves into situations we don’t need to. We played an hour of good football and we were the better team up until the first goal.

‘But once that went in, heads dropped and we slipped into the same old bad habits again.

‘It’s about the strength of character and we’ve got to dig deep. We will see people’s characters and mentality.